Servants

Servant leadership.
Isn't it curious how such a concept arises?

What does it mean to serve?
For me, I think the ability to conceive service to community is just amazing.
Amazing because willing servanthood defies nature.
It defies nature because the ability to put others before oneself is very much a phenomena in the Animal Kingdom.
Every beast for itself. Yet humans have evolved to grasp the exact opposite doctrine.

And how did we arrive at that?
There must be something we have, or we know that the others don't.
Something linchpin to the entire self-sacrificing spirit that we are able to adopt.
Is it just compassion? love?
That doesn't seem to be the entire story, seeing other animals like crocodiles and dogs are too capable of acts of deep affection.

I imagine the deeper reason stems from the fact that humans are capable of having a higher order comprehension of life and death.
We are probably the one single species who have comtemplated more on such issues than any other species (if at all.)
Evidence of this is all around us; we humans conceive afterlife,
religions are born exclusively to mankind,
and we have ideas on how one should live and die.
So while animals live and die,
we humans do not simply pass through the motion of life.
Instead, we are aware of what it means to be alive.

Surely somewhere along these lines the human asks : "what then, is the meaning of life?"
Indeed, we have eventually come to question the futility of life - if we should all live, only to die at the end of life's journey.
And this is where willing servanthood comes in.

Wiliing servanthood is subconsciously conceived because

we realise that only when one places the larger community above and before oneself,
can one present added value to the society; an added value that surpasses their own lifetimes, and live on even into others' lives.

Let's take a look at the story of Shutruk Nahunte:

I am Shutruk Nahunte, King of Anshand and Sussa, Sovereign of the land of Elam. I destroyed Sippar, took the stele of Niran-Sin, and brought it back to Elam, where I erected it as an offering to my god.

Shutruk Nahunte - 1158 B.C

Shutruk nahunte!
King! Sovereign of the Land of Elam! Destroyer of Sippar!
Behold! His accomplishments can not be found in any history book. Why?
Because great ambition and conquest, without contribution, is without significance.
What will your contribution be?
How will history remember you?

So let us learn how to serve